Tea Lovers who are also Vegetarian!

I’ve been vegan for six years and vegetarian for…twelve years? I can’t even remember! The second I found out where steak came from when I was a kid I went veggie. Anything with animal products has a better tasting and more healthful vegan equivalent. I’ve never felt it to be “depriving.” Every omnivore I’ve known who’s eaten coconut ice cream agrees it’s MUCH better than the dairy sort. Even my cats are happier as vegans! My ten-year-old grouch of a cat started climbing trees again when I switched her to a vegan diet too!

I’ve been a vegetarian for many years. I’m also an extremely picky eater; it’s not intentional, I just can’t help. For example, I don’t like onions (or anything from the onion family) in any shape or form. I don’t like milk and the list goes on.

Totally not a strict vegetarian by any means but I find myself moving that direction, at least, avoiding meat/processed foods whenever I can help it. Living with carnivores, being critically broke and having a mild soy intolerance tends to limit my options, and sometimes I just have to take what’s available, eat something processed/shelf-stable, or go hungry.

In a perfect world in which I had the money to buy lots of fresh local/organic/seasonal produce, and the time/kitchen (my living situation is awkward and the majority of the time the kitchen is inaccessible) to prepare it all, I would easily be vegan as soon as I figured out how to enjoy my black tea without dairy. I have tried every non-dairy alternative under the sun, and it’s just not the same; the way milk protein binds with the tannins in the tea to give it the perfect flavor seems to be near-impossible to replicate. I’ll keep looking, though.

I started off my vegetarian stage of life together with the tea stage. :) It happened in 2009. My 2009 Newyears’ resolution was quitting coffee and 10-year long smoking. By summer I started feeling cleaner and healthier, and decided to enhance it by trying out a vegetarian diet. I was in the process of writing my diploma paper, and it took months of long sitting in front of the computer. So I undertook vegetarian cooking as a hobby to divert myself from studying and writing. Somehow I figured that green tea is an indispensable part of a vegetarian lifestyle, and since those days it is a staple. :) Now I vary between lacto- and pseudo-vegetarian since I live with a meat-eating family. I feel great, found out that I actually need less food since I am on veggies, my skin problem quite disappeared, my digestion is perfect, and I have more stamina.

Weird question, but I can’t think of a better place to post it… Does anybody here have a complete REPULSION to milk? I can’t stand the way it smells! I hate looking at it! It’s so gross everybody always laughs at me because I really strongly don’t like it! I’m ok with soymilk, etc, because it doesn’t have that same nasty SMELL! am I alone in this?!

Always hated milk its just so gross and sour. The smell, the color, the texture, the taste, everything is just ick. When I was young my parents would always make me drink a glass of milk with dinner. I would always be the last person at the table, sitting there staring at the milk. I would try to drink as much as possible then when they weren’t looking I would either dump the rest in the sink or spit out the rest in the sink. So gross.

Yes, that describes me pretty well :) I distinctly remember that when I was just two years old I spat out my milk and have refused to drink it ever since.

Just like Butiki Teas I was the last person to sit at the table stubbornly refusing to drink my milk while all the other kids were playing. As an adult I still don’t like raw milk at all; I find the smell very off putting. However, I do like cheese or yogurt.

YES! I am glad I’m not the only one who can not STAND milk! I trained at the Barnes and Noble Cafe for a few days (I worked book-side usually) and everyone laughed because I would hold the milk and cup AS FARAWAYFROM MY BODY AS HUMANLYPOSSIBLE so it wouldn’t get near me. BLEH.

I was vegan for like 5 years and vegetarian for 3 and from that I cannot stand the smell of milk. I stopped being vegetarian/vegan almost 4 years ago and I still think milk smells like something rotten. I drink soymilk.
Also doesn’t help that from not consuming dairy you lose the ability to tolerate lactose, so it’s a double whammy of milk smells icky + makes me sick if I drink it.

YES – but it’s because I’m allergic to an enzyme in milk and dairy products. I was lactose-intolerant as a baby and lived on soy. I’ve never been able to drink milk without horrible pain in my chest. I have the same issues with most ice creams (sob), milk and white chocolate (not dark) and some yogurts, but not all, as well as a myriad of other things (egg nog, for example). It’s been trial and error most of my life figuring out what I can’t eat!

Anyway, I am totally repulsed by milk – probably because it gives me severe pain. I LOVE soy milk – use it in everything I can. AND I keep it separate from my husband’s milk in the fridge lest any particles try to attach itself to my soy! :)

I’ve recently become a vegetarian. One of the most challenging part is figuring out what to eat for dinner. This summer I had to start cutting down on eating dairy products. I became lactose intolerant so I try not to eat dairy often. I drink soy milk. I started eating less meals with meat until I finally switched to eating no meat. The only thing that is really difficult is being the only vegetarian in the household. I have been criticized a lot!

Erika, there are loads and loads of vegetarian and vegan recipes online, it just depends on what you like. You can start out with some of the ones that include meat substitutions, if that would be more comfortable for you. If you have a Whole Foods and/or decent supermarket, you’ll be able to find some good quality substitutes. I like getting seitan1 from Whole Foods and playing around with it in my kitchen, adding it to a veggie stir-fry or something.

There is so much information available on the internet, Erika. This might help: http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/making-the-transition-vegetarian.aspx
Also, vegweb.com for tons of recipes. There are lots of vegan and vegetarian blogs out there. Another thing you can do is add the word “vegan” or “vegetarian” in front of your favorite foods in a google search-for example, “vegan ribs”. Health food stores have lots of fake “meats” and “cheeses” that are easy to prepare and are very tasty. They can be good for transitioning.

Don’t let people bully you. Eventually, they will leave you alone and they will respect you for not being intimidated. Good luck!

I would like to thank you both,Nik and Scott B for your help! I’m going to see if a local supermarket has seitan. I’m definitely going to look for new recipes to try. Do you have any vegetarian blogs that you recommend or follow? I’m trying my best to not let it bother me. It’s just amazing how some people know very little about vegetarianism and yet they have so much to say about it.

Erika-I recommend making seitan yourself. Its easy and cheap to make and the homemade version is way tastier. You can even boil, bake, or slow cook it depending on what texture you would like. The store bought version is not nearly as tasty.

I’m a flexitarian. I sometimes eat meat/fish, but don’t need it at every meal. I do not eat red meat at ALL. I’ve tried to go vegetarian, but I’ve found it is very tough to get enough protein without overdoing it on carbs. I also LOVE almonds, but I do not like almond milk. I wish I did. I’m not sure why :(

I love veg*n dishes, and love to eat at veg*n restaurants (the few that there are around here in FL). There are a couple Vegan Festivals coming up next month that I always go to.

My question for all you vegans is – do you eat soy yogurt or soy cottage cheese? Or do you just avoid it altogether? I find yogurt and cottage cheese really good sources of protein without a lot of carbs.

Not a Vegatarian here, as the list of things I don’t want to give up is fairly long, and with various reasons. However, because I am having issues with processing certain foods, (Dairy and Fatty foods, we’re thinking those are the 2.) I am looking into different foods, not just stuff that I can eat, but are healthy and taste good. I’ve tried soy milk a few times, did not care for it. I plan on trying again as the last time I tried and I think my taste buds have changed since then. I do like Almond Milk, and looking to try coconut milk this week. When looking up where I could buy coconut milk I came across an article about not getting almond or coconut milk from the market because of the stuff they put in it. It’s not going to stop me from checking it out because truthfully I do not have the patience right now to try making my own, maybe down the road. I definitely do want to get into more organically grown products, though to be truthful I don’t think I would be able to completely cross that bridge. There are farmer’s markets near me, but they tend to be fairly pricey and I think they might be seasonal. There is a local fruit market that I love, but I am not sure if their stuff is organic. Even if it isn’t, they are strong supporters of local businesses…..that is also a goal of mine: to get more into local business.

Sorry if this seems ramble-y, as I am bit of an insomniac and about to try and go to sleep (it is now 6:15 am for me.) As soon as I bring in the huge bag of kitty food before my darling kitty starts yowling about her bowl. (Not empty, just the (dry) stuff has been out for a few hours. spoiled brat. lol.

Hi Rachel, I experimented with the pseudo meat options when I first gave up meat but they often tasted disgusting to me. What I could eat hurt my stomach. I’m not saying that soy is bad for you, because I think it’s healthy in moderation and in less processed forms.

The important thing to do is to just eat lots of whole grains and legumes. Eat a variety of fruits and veggies and forget the pseudo meat. They are simply not tasty or healthy. It requires a different way of eating and thinking about meals, but it totally opens up your eyes to different possibilities.

Also, there is evidence that tea interferes with iron absorption. This is especially true of plant sources of iron. So please drink and eat separately. allow time to digest before brewing that after dinner cup. Herbals should be safe though.